‘Bachelor’ Star Chris Soules Attends ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Following Fatal Car Crash Sentencing

Former Bachelor Chris Soules was spotted in the audience of Dancing With the Stars on Monday, Sept. 30, with his visit to the ballroom marking one of his first public appearances since he was involved in a fatal car crash in 2017.

Soules competed on DWTS during Season 20 in 2015 and was likely at Monday’s taping to cheer on former partner Witney Carson and fellow Bachelor Nation member Hannah Brown. The 37-year-old wasn’t the only famous face in the DWTS audience on Monday, with Demi Lovato, Bachelor Nation member Demi Burnett, Queer Eye star Bobby Berk, Zooey Deschanel and Jonathan Scott all spotted cheering on their favorite contestants.

Soules attended the show one month after he received a two-year suspended sentence and two years of probation for his role in the crash, and his appearance had several viewers on Twitter doing a double take.

Soules opened up about the accident for the first time while speaking PEOPLE in September, saying that he thinks about it “every day.”

“The trauma of being involved in [the accident] is something I cannot describe,” he said. “There is not a day that goes by that I don’t wish I could have done more or change the outcome of what happened. My outlook on life has changed forever.”

The reality star was involved in the crash when he hit a tractor with his pick-up in Aurora, Iowa, killing 66-year-old Kenneth Mosher, who was driving the tractor. Soules was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal crash and pleaded guilty in November 2018 to an aggravated misdemeanor charge of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in serious injury. In addition to his two-year suspended sentence, Soules also agreed to pay a $625 fine.

Soules cannot discuss certain details of the accident due to a civil settlement with Mosher’s family but said that he began administering CPR to Mosher when he came to after the crash. He then got into another truck and drove home and called an attorney. He was first charged with leaving the scene of a fatal crash before his plea deal amended the charge to an aggravated misdemeanor.

“I saw some dark times,” the farmer said. “I’m in the middle of nowhere as it is and I was even deeper in the isolation and the guilt. I thought many times that it would have been easier on the other side.”

“I’ll live with [what happened] forever,” he added. “But I will carry on, and as a result of the tragedy, do something bigger and better with my life.”

Photo Credit: Getty / Terry Wyatt